In July, as part of the Google News Initiative (GNI), we announced innovation funding to help newsrooms and publishers strengthen their online video capabilities and experiment with new formats for video journalism. Hundreds of organizations submitted proposals through an open application process and today we’re sharing the 87 recipients.

Hailing from 23 countries around the world, they represent a diverse array of broadcasters, traditional and digital publishers, local media, agencies and creators, but all share a commitment to quality journalism and a spirit of innovation.

Many of these projects are focused on expanding newsroom video operations and trying out new ways of reporting news through video — from reaching younger audiences online to exploring live and fact-checking formats. Other projects look at the sustainability of news organizations, including work on new business models and programs to support a healthy news ecosystem. Here’s a sample of some of the projects funded:

Advance Local (United States): U.S. publisher Advance Local will build out a new format for local news storytelling, enabling them to connect more deeply with their communities across the country. They will start in Michigan, where MLive Media Group (Mlive.com) will connect directly with its viewers, providing avenues for action on topics of important local interest, giving viewers the information they need to have their voice heard on issues of the day.

The Economist (United Kingdom): British publisher The Economist will strengthen its video production facilities and expertise, enabling it to launch a weekly video format that will explore the true story behind trending news topics. Through live streaming and audience engagement tools, viewers will be able to interact with the story along with the producers, their processes and sources. The new format aims to give viewers the tools to spot misinformation, analyze news sources and join the conversation.

HugoDécrypte (France): A top French news creator, HugoDécrypte will staff and train a production team to create a studio-based live news show. The show will form an on-screen meeting place for HugoDécrypte’s YouTube community to learn about and debate the key news issues of the day. It will consist of regular segments including news bulletins, fact-checking and interviews with well-known political figures and subject matter experts.

La Nación (Argentina): One of Argentina’s leading newspapers, La Nación will enhance their video operations at large. In business since 1870, La Nación has a rich history in print journalism, which they are extending to video. This funding will be used to grow their video team, improve digital video skills and increase output, enabling them to deliver engaging content, including behind the scenes snapshots of their hard-hitting investigative journalism and fresh takes on news of the day through video digests.

Narasi TV (Indonesia): Independent Indonesian journalist Najwa Shihab’s media company will mobilize its community across the country’s 34 provinces. It will host workshops to train budding citizen journalists on visual storytelling, news video production and media literacy, encouraging more Indonesians to become credible content creators as well as critical consumers of media. Meanwhile, Narasi TV’s own investigative journalism team will staff up their video team to produce more in-depth reports, particularly in hotly contested parts of the country in the run-up to Indonesia’s general elections.

Thairath (Thailand): The digital arm of one of Thailand’s oldest news publishers, Thairath, will create a rights management platform for Thailand’s freelance journalists. This platform will help Thai “stringers” more easily manage their footage rights from media companies. By protecting and promoting the important work of independent Thai journalists, the effort will support both the Thai media ecosystem and global news agencies seeking news about Thailand.

Today’s announcement reinforces our commitment to supporting a strong future for news video. Over the coming months, we’ll be sharing insights gained from the projects and giving newsrooms the opportunity to benefit from the learnings, as we work together to support the development of long-term, sustainable news video businesses.

For more information about YouTube’s work with the news industry, please visit our website. We look forward to seeing how our partners across the globe push the boundaries of video journalism.

We’ve always used a mix of human reviewers and technology to address violative content on our platform, and in 2017 we started applying more advanced machine learning technology to flag content for review by our teams. This combination of smart detection technology and highly-trained human reviewers has enabled us to consistently enforce our policies with increasing speed.

We are committed to tackling the challenge of quickly removing content that violates our Community Guidelines and reporting on our progress. That’s why in April we launched a quarterly YouTube Community Guidelines Enforcement Report. As part of this ongoing commitment to transparency, today we’re expanding the report to include additional data like channel removals, the number of comments removed, and the policy reason why a video or channel was removed.

Focus on removing violative content before it is viewed

We previously shared how technology is helping our human review teams remove content with speed and volume that could not be achieved with people alone. Finding all violative content on YouTube is an immense challenge, but we see this as one of our core responsibilities and are focused on continuously working towards removing this content before it is widely viewed.

From July to September 2018, we removed 7.8 million videos

And 81% of these videos were first detected by machines

Of those detected by machines, 74.5% had never received a single view

When we detect a video that violates our Guidelines, we remove the video and apply a strike to the channel. We terminate entire channels if they are dedicated to posting content prohibited by our Community Guidelines or contain a single egregious violation, like child sexual exploitation. The vast majority of attempted abuse comes from bad actors trying to upload spam or adult content: over 90% of the channels and over 80% of the videos that we removed in September 2018 were removed for violating our policies on spam or adult content.

Looking specifically at the most egregious, but low-volume areas, like violent extremism and child safety, our significant investment in fighting this type of content is having an impact: Well over 90% of the videos uploaded in September 2018 and removed for Violent Extremism or Child Safety had fewer than 10 views.

Each quarter we may see these numbers fluctuate, especially when our teams tighten our policies or enforcement on a certain category to remove more content. For example, over the last year we’ve strengthened our child safety enforcement, regularly consulting with experts to make sure our policies capture a broad range of content that may be harmful to children, including things like minors fighting or engaging in potentially dangerous dares. Accordingly, we saw that 10.2% of video removals were for child safety, while Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) represents a fraction of a percent of the content we remove.

Making comments safer

As with videos, we use a combination of smart detection technology and human reviewers to flag, review, and remove spam, hate speech, and other abuse in comments.

We’ve also built tools that allow creators to moderate comments on their videos. For example, creators can choose to hold all comments for review, or to automatically hold comments that have links or may contain offensive content. Over one million creators now use these tools to moderate their channel’s comments.1

We’ve also been increasing our enforcement against violative comments:

From July to September of 2018, our teams removed over 224 million comments for violating our Community Guidelines.

The majority of removals were for spam and the total number of removals represents a fraction of the billions of comments posted on YouTube each quarter.

As we have removed more comments, we’ve seen our comment ecosystem actually grow, not shrink. Daily users are 11% more likely to be commenters than they were last year.

We are committed to making sure that YouTube remains a vibrant community, where creativity flourishes, independent creators make their living, and people connect worldwide over shared passions and interests. That means we will be unwavering in our fight against bad actors on our platform and our efforts to remove egregious content before it is viewed. We know there is more work to do and we are continuing to invest in people and technology to remove violative content quickly. We look forward to providing you with more updates.

YouTube Team

1
Creator comment removals on their own channels are not included in our reporting as they are based on opt-in creator tools and not a review by our teams to determine a Community Guidelines violation.

At YouTube Music, we are constantly striving to give fans more ways to explore the world of music. Today, we are making the previously announced YouTube Charts available in YouTube Music as playlists so fans in our 29 launched markets can effortlessly explore the hottest songs and videos both globally and locally.

Looking to check out the top most-played songs this week on YouTube, the most-viewed music videos, or see what’s trending? We’ve got you covered! Fans can now easily access YouTube Charts as playlists that will appear on users’ home screens or by search. It’s ALL here and easy to find, watch and listen to what’s popular, rising and trending both locally and globally — all within YouTube Music.

Every country — all 29 markets — will get five charts playlists: three specific to their country and two global lists. Fans can also add their favorite charts to their library so they can stay up-to-date on what’s trending on the platform.

YouTube Charts are the go-to destination to see what music is hot on YouTube and now include the following within YouTube Music:

Top 100 Songs: The most played songs on YouTube (global and local charts available)

Top 100 Music Videos: The most viewed music videos (global and local charts available)

The Top Music Videos chart goes beyond the song and gives fans the chance to dive into the most viewed official music videos on the platform. Top Videos is updated weekly on Sunday at 12 p.m. PST. Each country will get both a global and country-specific version of this chart. This week, the U.S. list is topped by the same two tracks as the songs list, with Nicki Minaj at #3 with "Good Form ft. Lil Wayne."

Top 20 Trending (local chart)

The new Trending chart is updated multiple times a day to provide a unique, real-time view of the hottest new music fans are enjoying in a specific country. The Trending chart is YouTube’s first dedicated external signal of the most-viewed new music on the platform, providing an instant snapshot of what is driving music culture. Ariana Grande completes her clean sweep in the U.S. this week, with XXXTENTACION’s "Guardian angel" and Kodak Black’s "Calling My Spirit" rounding out the top 3.

The charts, currently topped globally by Ariana Grande’s "thank u, next," are the most accurate reflection of what’s happening in music culture and based purely on the number of views from more than 1 billion global music fans on YouTube each month. Full details about how YouTube charts are calculated can be found here.

In 2018, you danced your heart out to Drake, yodeled in Walmart, and played a lot of Fortnite. As we prepare to head into 2019, it's time for our annual look back at the year that was in video and the trends that you made possible.

This year was marked by surprising celebrity moments. In February, Kylie Jenner surprised the world with "To Our Daughter," an 11-minute film detailing her pregnancy and the birth of baby Stormi, which was watched over 53 million times on its way to becoming YouTube's global #1 Top Trending Video of 2018. Will Smith vlogged all over the world. Oh, and he also jumped out of a helicopter over the Grand Canyon on a dare. Rihanna started her own "Tutorial Tuesdays" makeup series. And, of course, Beyoncé's livestream from Coachella took #Beychella worldwide.

Following the success of last year’s monster hit "Despacito," Latin Music has continued to explode on YouTube. in 2018. In fact, eight of the ten most-watched music videos over the past year were by Latin artists.

It's also time for our annual Rewind mashup video. But rather than trying to sum up 2018's biggest memes, personalities, and hit videos ourselves, we tried something different this time around. We asked some of YouTube's biggest names to tell us what they wanted to see if they controlled Rewind.

Check out the full video below and head over to our Rewind site to get to know the creators and artists who shaped popular culture in 2018.

Today, we’re introducing new student plans for YouTube Music and YouTube Premium, giving eligible university and college students discounted access to a world of music, original series and movies — all ad-free and at a wallet-friendly price.

Earlier this year, we introduced the new YouTube Music and YouTube Premium subscription plans to help users get more from their YouTube experience. YouTube Music is a new music streaming service with official albums, playlists and singles, as well as a vast catalog of music videos, remixes, live performances, covers and more — all with ad-free, background and offline access. YouTube Premium extends that ad-free experience across all of YouTube, and includes access to YouTube Originals.

Student plans are available for YouTube Music Premium for $4.99 and YouTube Premium for $6.99. Students who sign up by 1/31/19 can lock in YouTube Premium at a special rate of just $5.99.

How to Watch, Listen and Stream

Student plans are currently available to all full-time students at an accredited college or university in the U.S. and will expand to more countries in the future. Click here to learn more about eligibility requirements.

Earlier this year we launched #YouTubeGiving, a suite of tools that empowers creators to raise money on behalf of their favorite charities. As we enter the giving season, we’re making these tools available to even more organizations and creators.

To kick things off, next week some of YouTube’s biggest creators will celebrate Giving Week and team up with charities that hold a special place in their hearts. See below for a preview of who and what to expect, and look for the donate button on their videos to lend your support:

In support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Rhett & Link spent a week filming in Memphis, Tennessee, including visits to Graceland, the maple syrup farm of country music legends Rascal Flatts, the St. Jude campus and a special “Will It” taco party for St. Jude families.

Over the last decade, Hope for Paws founder Eldad Hagar has built a massive following with heartwarming and inspirational videos of his animal rescues. Internationally-renowned DJ Marshmello will be hosting a special video in support of the charity

Throughout the month of December, we’ll continue our season of giving with #Dancember, a charity fundraiser founded by YouTube creators Benji and Judy Travis of itsJudysLife. This is leading up to a 24-hour live stream fundraiser on December 14th, benefitting the global humanitarian organization, Save the Children.

At YouTube, we believe in the power of video to build community and empathy. We hope you’ll join us in supporting these incredible creators and organizations.

In anticipation of the International Day for Tolerance on November 16th, we are proud to celebrate the creators who are using the power of one view to open minds, inspire understanding, celebrate culture, and make a difference. From a beauty vlogger in California to a rapper in Sudan, a painter in Germany to a comedy collective in India, YouTube’s Creators for Change program brings together storytellers from around the world to share moments of hope, humanity, and acceptance. At YouTube, we believe that the world is a better place when we listen, share and build community through our stories. YouTube Creators for Change is a critical part of this mission and we are incredibly proud of the continued momentum of the creators from around the world who are using their voices to overcome divisiveness and hate.

Today, YouTube’s Creators for Change Ambassadors came together to release over 50 new films that aim to promote tolerance, encourage empathy, and spark dialogue, locally and globally.

In May we announced that 47 Global Ambassadors joined the Creators for Change program, a global initiative dedicated to amplifying and multiplying the voices of YouTube creators who are using their platforms to spread messages of positivity, hope and acceptance. Since the announcement, they’ve been working with mentors like award-winning filmmaker Eliot Rausch, the Founder of The Nzinga Effect, Eliza Anyangwe, and Anthony Robinson, the Director of Training & Public Engagement at the Truman National Security Project on persuasive storytelling and bridge-building to create inspiring Impact Films. Some highlights from this year’s films include:

US-based singer-songwriter MILCK composed “A Little Peace” in response to violence globally. As part of her project she created a music video where multiple singers harmonized with one another in the name of peace.

Australian-based YouTube Creator and rapper, L-FRESH the LION created a project that follows his work with Manbir SIngh (Akaal Fauj - kirtan teacher) trying to preserve Sikh culture through hip-hop and traditional music.

UK-based skin-positivity Creator Em Ford created a follow-up video to her 2015 viral video “You Look disgusting" called “Redefine Pretty;” a short film detailing how beauty standards psychologically affect young women.

India’s biggest female comedy YouTube creator, MostlySane’s video “No Offence” is a funny yet timely follow-up rap video to “Shameless”, focused on dealing with various kinds of hate speech - both online and in real life.

Dentist by day, YouTube creator by night, Maha AJ created the “Salimmik” music video as a way to pay homage to her home country of Sudan. This love-letter to Sudan aims to show a side of Sudan that is not typically portrayed in media

Driving impact locally

In addition to the global program, creators around the world are using their voices to stand for positivity through our local chapter efforts in 9 countries. Through a combination of creator-led videos that opens minds to educational workshops that inspire critical though, local initiatives span 9 markets and continue to inspire local communities. For example:

in Asia, Creators for Change joined forces with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and social change agency Love Frankie to support emerging YouTube creators committed to tackling tough social issues in their videos through a regional Creators for Change Fellows program. Following a series of kick-off Boot Camps across Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, a committee selected 15 regional Fellows from these 5 countries, collectively representing an audience of over 2 million fans. Armed with production funding and opportunities to work with civil society organizations, these up-and-coming voices have created over 15 inspiring videos.

Be Internet Citizens, the United Kingdom’s local Creators for Change chapter, is on target to reach 20,000 students you the end of the year with content about responsible Internet use and empowering young adults to be positive voices online.

Israel hosted almost 100 top creators for a Tolerance Summit in connection with the local chapter initiative, #Ovdim_Al_Ze. The 2018 Tolerance Challenge was announced, an invitation for local creators to share meaningful and heartfelt videos for release on the International Day for Tolerance taking place on November 16th, 2018.

The German chapter of Creators for Change, #NichtEgal, kicked off a nation-wide roll-out of school-focused workshops in October. Targeting 61 schools in all 16 German states, this program aims to train 200 teachers and 1,500 mentor students, who are forwarding their knowledge to 10,000+ students within the program until the beginning of December. These workshops are supported by our local YouTube creators who share their experiences and advise the students on how to have a positive impact in their communities.

So far this year, 35 000 youth have benefited from anti fake-news and hate speech related workshops in France as part of the Toi-même Tu filmes program, working closely with partners like Les Petits Débrouillards and Génération Numérique to deliver trainings all over France. Additionally, YouTube Creators for Change has partnered with the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner to sponsor the 2018 Mobile Film Festival, encouraging youth around the globe to create short films that celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.

To all the creators who participated in this year’s program: thank you. We are grateful for your passion and dedication.